Queen's Quest

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen Command Decision

The crowd at the Cauldron was incredible the place was packed, however Jina's friends came to the rescue. The Guild had a special room in back and we were invited to join them. There were a couple of female pixies there so Ensign Fashar had his hands full. Commander Siofra, Ensign Zoxie, Lieutenant Vesson and Lieutenant Frayla were hosting a get-together so we all knew each other. Gretchen, Gravin and I were the only non-witches here and Lieutenant Geardot being the only human might have made for an awkward evening, but Jina and her friends made sure nobody felt left out. We started out with a round of drinks and naturally, the conversation immediately centered on the hearing. When Gretchen asked Commander Siofra her thoughts on this governor business, she replied,

"They're going to talk that girl Brie into taking it that's a given."

"What if she won't take it?" replied Lieutenant Geardot. Commander Siofra gave her a wink and a wry smile,

"Oh she'll take it, trust me, they've got her up at the palace right now laying it on thick, she'll simply have no choice. When you think about it, she's the only logical choice. She comes from the planet, knows how things are done there, she's probably dark Fae most Succubus generally would be, but in the end it won't really matter. Whether she succeeds or fails isn't really the point, anybody that was really paying attention today realizes that neither Maguire, Kolee or even old Trueblood want anything to do with the problems on earth. They just want to find out where our people actually came from. I tell you a couple times today that Morrigan woman almost came to a bad end." I guess a lot of this was going over my head, but then I try and avoid politics but sometimes it doesn't avoid you. I did notice that queen Kolee was being awfully nice to "The Morrigan" for some reason.

"Don't kid yourself," said Commander Siofra, "Were they to keep "The Morrigan" here on Isseth she would turn up dead within a month, or missing, never to be found. Isseth isn't big enough for two Kolee's."

"I take it you don't care much for Bivale," I casually asked. Commander Siofra gave me a surprised look,

"I think she's the best thing to happen to Mythal in a long long time. She's clever, smart, like's things running smoothly and most of all wildly popular with her people. Problem is…"The Morrigan" is too, only her energies are turned in another direction, I understood that when I first talked to her. Those two would be going head to head in no time with disastrous results for Mythal as well as Isseth. No, they're all going back to earth as fast as we can send them, they can beat each other over their collective heads all they want, no one here will care one whit. She then lowered her voice to almost a whisper,

"The fact that Malcanthet want's to go only sweetens the pot." "I thought she and the queen got along all right?" Commander Siofra grinned and replied,

"Publicly they do, but personally they are at opposite ends. They don't exactly hate each other, but Bivale wouldn't be unhappy were Malcanthet to disappear or otherwise move out of the picture were something to happen to her on earth."

Commander Siofra amazed me with her vast knowledge of palace intrigues but then when you're a senior member of the Witches Guild, you'd better be up on these things. She also informed me that the guild was going to re-instate Mynce into the guild,

"They are not only going to re-instate her, but kick her up a level or two, this won't happen for another couple of days and I'll contact you as they will need access to the Inkara to do it properly."

"Mynce will be thrilled by this," I replied.

"Soon we ordered our meals and I began chatting with Lieutenant Vesson from the Osha.

I noted that she was probably only the third Elvin witch I'd ever run into and that she was a rarity.

"There's more of us than you think," she replied, "I'm the third generation of my family to be involved in magic and witchcraft, my grandmother was a founding member of the guild. Back in those days things were pretty wild and wooly, lots of dark magic, and evil stuff. Grand ma ma and like minded individuals were visionaries in that they saw that a lot of good could come out of the guild, they've got a big plaque dedicated to her at the hall across the street." Lieutenant Vesson smiled and added,

"Actually being a witch and belonging to the guild is something I did for mother and grand ma ma, the Navy I did for myself. My father is a retired chief quartermaster I joined the Navy for him then discovered I really liked it, I love being a navy nurse, The Osha is a great ship, I know you're partial to the Nessa and I've got a lot of friends over there as well, but we've got a great crew on the Osha." Ensign Zoxie spoke up concerning the Osha as well,

"It's officer's like the Lieutenant here that make the Osha the ship she is. Even though we weren't the ones that found earth, we are all proud that we were chosen to participate in this operation."

"So are you planning on making a career out of the navy?" I asked the Lieutenant.

"Oh most definitely, I'm scheduled for promotion in another two months, mother doesn't say much but I know she's very proud of me, and father…Well being ex-navy what can he say?"

"So what do you all think of the hearing and this business with the Fae from earth?"

The other people at the table were talking to each other leaving the six of us to ourselves.

Lieutenant Vesson looked at Ensign Zoxie then at Lieutenant Geardot sitting next to me then lowered her voice.

"Honestly, I think they should just ship all of them back and slam the door, it's obvious our ancestors came from earth, great…Call it a day, and walk away, let them deal with their own problems." Her face then lost all expression as she looked me directly in the eye.

"Commander, I'm known for speaking my mind, sometimes I get in trouble for it most of the time not, however,those of us who were there and fought that damn Garuda all agree that we never want to encounter something like that again. At some point every one of us died, I mean really died, to this day none of us can tell you what exactly happened out there at that ruins, or what saved us, we…We all have dreams, bad nightmares, I want to sit down with my grand ma ma and have a long chat with her about this, I don't know…Maybe she can answer some questions, maybe not but letting that Morrigan woman remain on this planet is the worst thing that could happen, and thankfully Maguire and Kolee understand that as well."

"What's the guild's thinking on this matter?" I asked.

"Still too early yet," replied Jina, "Don't kid yourself though, Senior guild members are at that dinner party at the palace right now, grilling every one of those people from earth as well as formulating questions that will be asked tomorrow, believe me this situation is top priority everyone is focused like a laser on the final decision." Lieutenant Geardot then spoke up,

"I'm curious about something, do you think these people are genuine or phonies?" Lieutenant Vesson and Ensign Zoxie answered that one.

"Oh their real enough even with this bobbed ear business. We already know what "The Morrigan is capable of, Trick is a real dwarf his medical profile confirms it. "The Nain Rouge" and the Faerie Queen have been so cowed and beat down for so long they don't really know what they are, but they are true Fae, it's funny, but those are the only two I really feel for,"

"What about this Brie woman?" asked Commander Tormish.

"Lieutenant Vesson chuckled,

"I've seen her medical records, she's a true succubus no doubt about it, I've even heard a rumor that Malcanthet wants to accompany her and that…" Looking at Lieutenant Geardot she said,

"Sorry Lieutenant, I mean no disrespect to you Pyrrians but that girl is a damned i***t, for their sake I certainly hope the rest of the humans aren't that stupid."

"You don't have to apologize Lieutenant," said Gretchen with a smile.

"I spoke to her briefly but long enough to agree with your observation, I'm afraid I've no further interest in speaking with her anymore." We all laughed at that one with Commander Tormish asking,

"Has anyone figured out what this "OZ" is that she keeps rambling on about? I also gather that she is under the impression you ladies of the witches guild ride around on broomsticks and wear black robes and pointed hats." Lieutenant Vesson snickered,

"She asked me that as well, but I drew a different conclusion, she also spoke to some of us about the legacy of our people that remained on earth. We seem to be overlooking the fact that we Fae are the stuff of legends…Human legends, very powerful ones. Elves, Dwarves, Faerie folk, and yes…Even witches. Surprisingly that girl is quite an accomplished artist, I was sitting in with some of the intelligence staff when they were talking with her, she drew pictures of several Fae as we understand ourselves, you should see those pictures, quite well done."

She then took a moment to eat a fork full of vegetables and resumed her story.

"She drew some beautiful elves, the ears were a bit more pointed and pronounced than they really are but every feature of her Elvin woman was as they really are. She also drew some Faerie's, you saw them didn't you Jina?"

Jina nodded, and replied,

"I did, and they were very accurate depictions of we Faerie but I must confess, I didn't recognize the other characters, none of them exist on Isseth much less Mythal. I think she called them brownies and Leprechaun's, though I did hear Trick mention that there was a small group living in some country called Ireland."

"That drawing she did of pixies was also a bit different…Oh I'm sorry Ensign Fashar, I forgot you didn't get a chance to see them, I think Ensign Emkesh did and remarked that they were smaller than pixies actually are but that's a minor point." Lieutenant Vesson then began to make her point.

"The point I'm trying to make is this, here we have two groups of Fae separated for untold millennia yet we are remembered and idolized by the humans. Something doesn't add up, we are remembered and depicted in a most favorable light, yet the Fae of earth are hunted and despised according to "The Morrigan" as well as others, what's going on? And another thing, this friend of Brie's, Kendi is her name I think," added Spookia, "Told us that we Fae are depicted and remembered in stories and something she called movies, video's I think. Apparently there's been a lot of embellishment over the years, but still…What would these humans think were we to make war on them?"

"One thing's for certain," remarked Lieutenant Geardot, "Tomorrow should prove to be quite interesting."